Wicked Silver
by SorcererTech
Summary: /Transformation/ A depraved soul thirsts for power. It becomes corrupt and sinful in its actions, and the more it gets, the more it wants. Blood, sweat, it doesn't matter what it is. Before now I thought I knew...but I had to learn things the hard way...
1. Fishing

**A/N:** I apologize if the story doesn't start out exactly as what you thought it would be, and I apologize if it doesn't match the summary right away. I'm not the kind of person who likes to jump into the plot right away within the first chapter. In fact, I tend to dislike that, so it might be a few chapters or so before we get into the real meat of the story, and mark my words, in the end, it will most definitely match the summary. Please keep that in mind as you read, and if you think you might like where it's going, add it to your alert list. For now though, please enjoy the appetizers, and enjoy the story.

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**Chapter 1: Fishing**

I could start by telling you about the journey. I could start by telling you about what it was like to wake up and find that I wasn't myself anymore. I could even start by telling you how I lost one of my best friends. But if I chose to do any of these, I would be leaving too much out for my own comfort. Let me start from the beginning.

My name is Jake, Jake Shemland, and I'm sixteen years old. For the longest time I was just like any kid my age. Well, almost; I was much more of a reader than most other kids, and I still am. It's just that back then I was carefree. It felt natural to shun most of my responsibilities if I wasn't absolutely required to do them. Looking back, maybe that was why my day started out so bad, maybe if I had spent a little more time on things instead of trying to sleep in, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

It all started on the day that I started my new job...

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I know that when I woke up that morning, the first thing that reached my ears was the blaring, high-pitched noise of my alarm clock. Shoving my pillow over my ears to block out the noise, I reached over and slammed my hand down, trying to hit the snooze button. A sharp pain shot through my palm; it felt like someone had tried to stab me with a needle. I let out a small scream as I sat up with a jolt and looked at my hand. Of course I couldn't see anything right away, it was still perfectly dark out. I reached up and turned on the lamp that was sitting on my nightstand, only to see that I had hit a thumbtack that was sitting next to my clock, which was still shouting that god damn noise into my ears. Well, that explained the pain.

I pulled the thumbtack out of my hand and shut off the alarm before jumping out of bed, and running to the bathroom to throw a band-aid over the wound. I took a few seconds to smooth down my wild brown hair before darting back and dressing myself. After I made my way downstairs I grabbed muffin out of the fridge. I didn't have time for a full breakfast right now. Why the hell did I have to set my alarm to go off a mere twenty minutes before the ship left?

Tossing on my old, worn out shoes (I couldn't find my newer ones), I ran out the door and grabbed my bicycle, slipping a little on the flat soles of my shoes as I shoved off and pedaled down the street, barely missing a nearby meowth. I quietly swore to myself as I hurried down to the docks, still hearing a hoothoot every now and then from the outskirts of town, and eating the muffin on my way. I could see that the boat I was supposed to be on was already lit up with people moving around and getting ready to leave port. I pedaled faster. Leaping off my bike as I reached the ramp leading on board, I let it skid to the side as I ran up the ramp.

Pausing once I was on the main deck, I bent over a little, trying to catch my breath. Why the hell did this ship have to leave so damn early!? Couldn't we go fishing some time during the day instead of at five in the morning. Leaning back against the ships rusted railing, I hoped I wasn't the only kid going through this nightmare. I didn't exactly have time to check though, because almost immediately after I got on board a rather pudgy man walked over to be. He had a few scars over his face and the clothes that he wore sent a clear message of 'I am the captain of this ship.'

"You Jake Shemland," he asked. His voice was low and a bit scratchy. It reminded of of what those bad guys always sounded like in the cartoons I watched when I was littler.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, I'm Jake." The angry look on his face made me think that he was about to beat the living daylights out of me for being so late. I swallowed silently as I watched him stretch his left hand, raising my own to protect my face; but instead of hitting me, he simply nodded and headed back towards the main cabin.

"Good," he called back to me.

Sighing, I rubbed my temples a little to try and wake myself up a bit. Why did I have to get stuck with a scary captain? I rubbed my eyes to try and get the sleep out before looking around to see if I could spot anyone else around my age. Near the front of the ship, leaning over the railing and gazing out at the sea was a girl who had a red baseball cap hanging loosely over the back of her head, covering a little less than half of her long hair. I wasn't exactly sure right then because the only light I had was coming from the boat itself, but it looked like she was a red head. Her hair clearly stood out against the bright yellow t-shirt she was wearing. About five feet or so to her left was a boy who looked to be about sixteen as well. His messy, jet black hair was rather short, so I was a little surprised as to how he still managed to get his bangs to fall over his face. His brown eyes were looking over at the girl while he noisily blew a bubble with the gum he was chewing. The black, sleeveless tee and the torn jeans only topped it all off.

I started to make my way over to them, only to notice those brown eyes following my movements. It made me want to just turn around right then, and maybe that would have been a good idea, but I persisted. Any company at this job would be better than none, even if that did mean going near Mr. Freaky here. As I reached the two, I quickly turned my back on the boy, and, trying to ignore him, then went ahead and started with the girl.

Reaching over, I gently tapped her on her shoulder. "Hello?"

She turned to look at me, a bit confused as to why someone would be talking to her right now, but once she saw how old I was she quickly smiled, a shine appearing in her green eyes. "Hey. You decided to take this job too?" Her voice was cheery and bright, and along with the look on her face, and it gave me the impression that she was pretty happy most of the time.

Finally, I nodded in response. "Yeah. It was all I could find. There aren't really many jobs out there for teens going to school instead of heading out and becoming trainers." Glancing over my left shoulder I could see the eyes of the other boy still following me...watching me... It was a little creepy.

"Yeah," I heard her respond. There was a short pause as she looked at me, taking in a few details. "So, what's your name?" I turned back to face her. "I'm Jake."

She nodded and straightened out her cap, being careful that it didn't drag her hair in front of her face. "I'm Kate. Nice to meet you." I grinned a little, glad to finally be on a name to name basis with someone. It would definitely help me get through this year. Then again, it would be sort of hard to go through the entire year and not know anyone.

Looking over my shoulder again, I noticed that the boy was looking back towards the main cabin, where it looked like they were just about to set off. As I watched them pull up the anchor, I turned back to face Kate again, and we started talking, getting to know each other a little better. As the ship pulled out of the small harbor, I found myself gazing out over the small waves that were scattered across the surface of the ocean, all of which were a deep maroon, like the color of the sky above them. There were so many of them, I started to think that while aboard this ship, there was no telling where we would be going.

* * *

The sunlight sparkled brightly off the gentle surface of the ocean, the sun up high in the sky now. It was almost noon, and the wind had picked up since we left port. With every small dip that the ship made into the ocean, another misty spray of sea water blew across my face. It was rather refreshing, keeping me awake despite how tired I was, but it still did nothing to help the fact that I hadn't eaten a proper breakfast; my stomach still hurt. Orders were being tossed around left and right in the background, but most of them went right over my head as I pulled at one of the nets, trying to get it out of the water to see what we had caught, taking a few steps back to counter the fact that my shoes were starting to slip, despite the fact that I had the railing to hold on to. I could feel it coming up, and I could see the first fish come out of the water...

"Crap!" I yelled, letting half the net go and releasing our catch. Why couldn't we get anything better than these stupid magikarp? We'd been out here for hours and that's all we'd managed to get at all! Worthless, worthless magikarp! I sighed as I heard Kate heading my way. I could tell it was her by the way that her sneakers squeaked as she walked across the deck. Apparently, she was the only person other than me that had worn them, probably because, if I had taken the time to think this morning, they didn't have a good enough grip on a wet deck. I heard the captain order some of his crew to take the ship out a bit further and I turned to face Kate who was approaching me and looking down at the empty net in my hands.

"Why did you let our catch go," she asked. By the way she asked, I took a quick guess that she already knew why. "There could have been more than just magikarp in there." Yep, she knew. I looked back at her, a bit of a guilty look on my face. I knew that that was probably true. It was unlike me to do something like that without thinking more. Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't had breakfast this morning. I hoped it was.

"Sorry Kate," I said, my voice wavering a little. I tried to concentrate on something other than my hunger. God I felt horrible. My stomach hurt like hell, and I felt a little nauseous.. "I'm just not thinking today..."

"Damn right you aren't!" I looked up to see who had spoken. It was the boy that I had seen earlier, and that had, for the most part, seemed to keep to himself. He had a very peeved look on his face as he hung his arm over the boats rusted railing. "I spent fifteen minutes setting up that net for our catch only for you to go and let it all go! Why the _hell _did you do that?" His black boots made thumping noises as he angrily made his way over to us. "I mean, come on Jake!" I looked at him, a little confused as to how he knew my name. Apparently the look I had on my face conveyed that, because he threw his hands up in the air to emphasis his next point. "What? You didn't think that I heard everything you two talked about on the way here?" He crossed his arms and looked out over the waves. "You two are just retarded."

Not wanting to get myself into a situation where I had no idea who the heck I was talking to, I tapped Kate on the shoulder. "Who's that?" I whispered in her direction, nodding towards him.

"Oh him," she asked. "That's Evan, Evan Tang." Evan Tang...I knew that I had heard that name somewhere before; it sounded so familiar. I searched my memory for something but came up with a complete blank. I let out a small sigh and asked again. "Who?"

She rolled her eyes before responding, this time loud enough for him to hear. "Evan Tang. You know, the kid who beat his father up when he told him he wasn't responsible enough to handle being a trainer?"

A light popped on inside my head as I remembered. This was the kid that had been the talk of the town a few years back, and not in the good way either. I turned back to face him, only to catch him glaring daggers at Kate. "Yeah, that's me," he said, not noticing the fact that most of the crew members had started to head inside.. "What of it?"

It was obvious this was someone I wouldn't want to mess with. I turned my back to him so I wouldn't have to look at him, to stare him in the eyes. "Oh, nothing..." My voice trailed off as I ended up looking back out at sea. Something was different though, darker, in that really bad and ominous sort of way. The clouds that were overhead weren't that light gray color anymore, and the surface of the ocean wasn't so calm either. Instead the sky was replaced with an ever changing mass of dark gray, and the waves were starting to get a bit bigger. I could feel the wind starting to blow harder, and I wondered why I hadn't noticed earlier. I pulled my shirt a bit tighter to try and keep me warm.

Still looking out at the scene, I called back to the two of them. "Hey, guys?" My voice felt just as small compared to everything else as it sounded. "Hello? Guys," I repeated myself, raising my voice a bit as I turned to face them. Both were looking at each other, and it took them a moment to respond, or at least for Kate to respond. Evan didn't say anything at all.

"Yeah," she asked,, still looking at Evan, "what is it?"

I glanced over my shoulder and up at the darkening sky as I felt several drops of rain hit the back of my shirt. They were big, cold, and sent a shiver down my spine. "I think now might be a good time to head inside..." Several more drops hit my back as I felt the ship start to lurch back at forth under the force of the crashing waves. We were the last ones left outside.

Kate finally turned to look at me, only half taking in the scene behind me. "And why's that?"

I shuddered as I saw a silent flash of light in the sky, followed by a sharp, and extremely loud cracking sound several seconds later. Finally, something that would get their attention. "That's why..." Next thing I knew the rain started coming down in sheets, and it came down hard. It was like some giant dam in the sky had burst. I could feel the boat being hit by larger and larger waves and I wanted to get inside _right then._ I took a step forward to head towards the main cabin, only for the worn soles of my sneakers to slip on the soaked deck. I fell forwards with a cry and quickly slid underneath the railing, just barely managing to grab onto the actual edge of the boat, which was rocking so much I thought it would sink right then and there.

"Shit," I yelled as I struggled to pull myself back up. "Shit! Help me!"

Kate ran over to the edge and leaned over the railing, knowing that there was no way she'd ever be able to pull me back up by reaching underneath it. "I'm coming!" She leaned over further and further as the waves made the boat tilt more and more. "There," she said, finally grasping my hand, "gotcha'." Kate tried to pull me back up, but she had leaned over too far and fell over the railing herself. There was a flash of lightning and suddenly there was Evan, trying to pull her back up by her foot, and me back up from where I hung, only still there because I had Kate's hand.

I couldn't quite see him, but I could hear him over the roar of the storm around us. "Just...hang...on..." I blinked as I tried to get the rain water out of my eyes, only to spot a large wave on my right, making it's way towards the boat. I screamed as it smashed into the side with crushing power. The force of the blow knocked Evan clean off his feet, and the three of us tumbled into the ocean together.

The instant I hit the water, I knew there was no way I could keep ahold of their hands. I felt the rush of cold water around me, the waves knocking me back and forth as I struggled to stay on the surface. I needed air, but all I kept getting were mouthfuls of water. I flailed my arms as I tried to swim, to stay afloat, to survive, but the waves kept crashing down on me. I no longer knew where either Evan or Kate were; all I knew was that I couldn't keep this up much longer. I was almost out of energy, and most importantly, air. I made one last mad attempt to stay on top, only to be thrown beneath the water by yet another wave. My lungs hurt like mad; I couldn't breathe. As I saw my vision fade to black, one last thought entered my mind.

'Was I meant to die today?'


	2. Wake Up Call

**A/N:** Hey there again. Not really much to say right now except that I'll try to update the story on weekends. And yes, weekends includes any day from Friday to Sunday. Anyways, hope you enjoy the new chapter. Read on!

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**Chapter 2: Wake Up Call**

Darkness, that's all there was. It was a peaceful, calm darkness, like it was there to take me away from a place where I didn't want to be. It was relieving, and I wondered for a moment if what had happened before, if all that I had gone through, falling off the boat and drowning, was merely a bad nightmare. Of course! It had to be. What else could it have been? I let out a small sigh as I let myself relax, enjoying this perfect little dream. The sounds of flapping wingulls and of crashing waves slowly made their way to my ears. Was I still dreaming? I could feel the cool sand between my toes and beneath my feet, as if I was at a five-star hotel on beachfront property. I opened my eyes to get a better look at this paradise, only to feel a wave of intense pain flood through my body. That's when I knew that it was no dream.

I tried to scream, I had to; it was way too much to take all at once, and yet all I could let out was a weak cry; my chest hurt way too much to do anything more than that. Most of the rest of the pain was coming from my arm, which only hurt more when I tried to move it, if that was even possible. The sounds of the waves were still persistant in my ears, but...something other than the sounds of nature reached my ears. Was...was that someone else? Yes, yes it was! I recognized the rustle of movement somewhere nearby. Trying desperately to breath, I wheezed as I made an attempt to call out. "Evan...Kate...is that you...?" I sucked in air like mad; I needed more, but it felt like there was no way I could get enough. I coughed up a bit of water as I made another attempt to breathe, probably salt water.

I closed my eyes as I heard whatever it was move again. "...J-Jake?" That...that sounded like Kate! I listened harder to see if there was anymore, but lost my concentration as yet another wave of pain struck me. Oh god! What was that!? It was too much; I struggled to breath. I wanted to cry out, to answer, even to just scream, but I didn't have the strength as I felt myself start to fade away into unconsciousness. As black filled my vision, I desperately hoped that someone would manage to find us, that help would come _before_ it was too late.

* * *

I groaned as I felt myself fade in and out of the darkness. I didn't know how much time had passed since I had last opened my eyes, but I was absolutely sure that the pain I was feeling was still just as strong as it was before, if not stronger; my chest still hurt and I knew I would still have trouble breathing, and for some odd reason, it felt like there was a new, almost phantom pain, right around where my tailbone was, in addition to the one already in my arm. There was some other noise mixed in with the sounds of the ocean too; it sounded like...someone walking through the sand? I didn't have enough strength to even open my eyes, and I was so close to fading away again that I wasn't even sure if I was actually hearing anything. The sound of whatever it was slowly grew louder. I wheezed as I coughed up more salt water, and the noise stopped as I did, and then, after a few seconds of silence, started again, this time much much faster than before. If it really was someone, then I was sure that they had noticed us by now. A rather loud gasp confirmed my thoughts. As my body went limp and I felt myself fall unconscious, I could hear whoever it was call out something.

"Don't worry, I'll get help."

The next thing I knew, I was screaming, someone carrying me with their hand on my arm. Very quickly whoever shifted their holding on me, and all of a sudden the pain was gone. I stopped screaming and found myself looking down at the moving sand below me. My eyes wandered upwards and I saw another person, a young boy, carrying two pokemon, with a charmander following at his side. That was good, he had gotten help. The boy had a look of extreme worry on his face. I took another glance at the pokemon he was carrying, but before I could see what they were, the boy snatched up my attention again. Apparently he had noticed me waking up. "Don't worry," he said, "you're going to be okay." His voice, it was calming somehow. And yet, as I closed my eyes again to save my strength, I knew there was something bothering me.

His voice wasn't the one that I had heard earlier. As I heard him repeat his sentence, I became positively sure of that. Not exactly thinking properly right then, it took me a moment to realize that it must have been the person carrying me who had said that. I mentally smiled to myself, only to be abruptly pulled out of my thoughts as I let out another scream, the pain in my arm intensifying, followed by an abrupt wheeze. I hoped I would be able to breathe again soon.

After a few minutes I felt us make a sharp turn to the left, or to his right; the sound of shoes upon sand changed to the clanging noise of rubber upon metal. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and I kept coming to and then fading back out. Next thing I knew I was face up on a rather large bed, throwing up salt water. There was so much, and it took me a couple moments of coughing and choking before I managed to get it all out. I sat there, gasping for breath and closing my eyes as I leaned forward, supporting myself as I spat out a bit more onto the already soaked sheets. Well, that explained the pain in my chest. I looked up to see who had helped me, and saw the bright blue eyes of that boy looking back at me.

"It's alright little guy," he said, "you're okay now. Just relax."

I gave him a weak smile in return, despite being a little confused at some of what he had said. "Thanks."

He didn't respond, but instead put a hand on my shoulder, probably as a sign of sympathy, and I winced, gritting my teeth together as I felt him touch me around where my arm hurt, and trying to ignore the pain. He pulled his hand back as he heard me breathe out between my teeth. "Oh! I'm sorry." He turned to face the door as I placed a hand on my arm to try and keep the pain from getting any worse. My hand felt...awkward to use for some reason. I adjusted its position a little to try and remedy that. "Dad," he called, "could you come here! I need your help!"

All I heard was silence, so while the boy waited for a response from his father, I took some time to look at my surroundings. I was in some kind of bedroom, and a rather small one at that. The white metal door was hanging open on its hinges and to my right there was a porthole above my head. That probably meant I was in a boat, and explained the sound of shoes on metal. But, why was it so high above my head? I shifted my hand for a better grip to help steady my arm. It was probably just a high ceiling, though I was pretty sure that was unusual for a room on a ship.

"Dad!" I took a closer look at the boy, as he repeated himself. He was rather young, probably around twelve or thirteen in age, and his red hair looked rather short; it was short enough to stick up and probably refuse to ever be combed down. He was also rather tall for his age, considering that sitting down, he was pretty much as tall as me, if not a bit taller.

I turned my head to face the door as I heard footsteps coming from somewhere down the hallway as the boy's father finally made his way out to reply. "What's wrong John," I heard him ask. His voice wasn't exactly deep, but it held the kind of calming tone in it that can only come from a caring father.

John glanced at me for a moment before calling back to his dad. "I think this one needs a splint!" As I heard his father start to make his way down to the room we were in, I made a mental note that I would have raised an eyebrow if he had been looking; instead I glared daggers at the back of his head. 'This one'? What was I, a pokemon? And that wasn't the only thing pissing me off. Why had he called me a 'little guy'? I was older than him for shit's sake! I glanced down at my arm as I sulked to myself. The least he could do was show a little respe-- Wait...was my arm...yellow? I leaned forward to take a closer look. My arm, which had several bruises on it, _was _yellow. I knew that it could have just been the light, but what absolutely convinced me that something was wrong was when I noticed that all my fingers were short and the same length.

Inside I was panicking, but on the outside I remained calm as I looked myself over. I didn't have any clothes on, and my entire body, which was also covered in plenty of bumps and bruises, was yellow too. Hell, I had brown stripes running across my back, which I could barely make out against the cuts and other wounds that covered my back. And to top it all off, I had..._I had a freakin' tail!_ I screamed as I started to flip out, just as John's father entered the room, the charmander I saw earlier trailing behind him. He looked over to his John as the charmander ran over to stand what him. The boy was probably its owner. "You said you thought he needed a cast, right?" John only nodded as I continued screeching. "Don't worry little guy," the man said, "I've got just what you need. We're going to make you a makeshift splint until we can get you to a pokemon center." I stopped screaming just long enough to glance at what he was carrying. In his left hand he had several Popsicle sticks (probably the only thing they had small enough) and a roll of tape, and in his right, a few pieces of gauze.

He reached forward to take a hold of my arm, but I jerked it away from him, gritting my teeth at the pain, but refusing to let him touch it either way. "No" I yelled at the top of my lungs, "this isn't real!" I was a god damn pikachu; it _couldn't _be real. The man reached forward again to try and calm me down, but instead I slashed at him with the only arm of mine that was still working, retreating back to the wall that the bed was resting against.. "It's not real!" Coughing from the tiny amount of water that was still in my lungs, I closed my eyes as I slid down the wall behind me. "It's just an illusion created by my mind to help mask the pain! I'm still lying on my back back at the beach, and someone's getting help!" I threw my hands up as I opened my eyes, pain flowing freely through my broken arm. "This _can't be real!_"

The charmander took a step forward, a bit of a confused look on his face; though his voice may have sounded sort of childish, when he spoke, he was as firm as any man could have been. "I hate to break it to you kid, but this isn't a dream. It's as real as real gets." I froze. That voice. That voice was... The words I had heard earlier replayed themselves in my head. 'Don't worry, I'll get help.' That was the same voice that I had heard earlier, the absence of which had given me hope, that had convinced me that it was all a dream; but there it was, just as real as ever. Just as real as this was. I reached over and pinched myself, not really because I still had to check, but I guess because I just felt obligated to do so. As John's father finally managed to get a grip on my arm, I sighed and closed my eyes.

It was hard to believe, that was obvious; it was just so...surreal; on the other hand it explained a lot, such as the high ceiling, how they could carry me so easily, and why my hand had felt so awkward in the first place. As the man placed the Popsicle sticks lengthwise along my arm over the pieces of gauze that he had already laid out, he readied several pieces of tape to help secure it all in place. I watched him for a moment before retreating to my mind's inner sanctum. I knew there was no going back now, especially when I didn't have a choice in the matter in the first place. I didn't even really like pikachus, let alone want to be one, but I knew that in the end I would just have to get used to it.

By the time I had come back to reality, they had cleaned up most of the cuts on my body, and the splint was already in place, if it could even be called that. Compared to what splints made for people usually looked like, this seemed like some sort of makeshift play thing made for a doll or an action figure; but I couldn't really complain, it _did _prevent me from moving my arm, so it did it's job well enough. I looked up at John's father, who smiled at me and patted me on the head. "You won't be able to bend your arm for a while, so try to take it easy." I murmered a halfhearted 'thanks,' not really talking loud enough for them to even hear me. This would definitely take some getting used to. "Other than that, you're free to explore the place." I gave a weak smile. At least I wouldn't have to worry about constant pain anymore, right? Plus, I was free to look around. Now if only I could find the others. As if reading my mind the man continued. "You're friends are in the room at the end of the hall." I mentally slapped myself. How could I be so stupid? Those other pokemon I had seen John carrying earlier must have been Kate and Evan. I hoped they were okay.

As John and his father started a small conversation, I started forward, heading towards the door...or at least I tried too. Instead I just tripped over my own feet. Neither of the two people noticed, they were both too entranced with their little talk. This body still felt so new to me. I would have to get used to the fact that I didn't really have legs; that, and the ears. I pushed myself up, mainly with my left arm, seeing as how my right one was almost useless right now, yet another thing I would have to get used to. I glanced over my shoulder as I held myself up. And of course, I couldn't forget the tail.

"Need some help?" I look up to see the charmander I had seen earlier extending a hand towards me. I took it in what must have looked like a rather awkward way; it would have been hard enough to get up without using my right arm. He smiled as I stood up, giving that impression that there was something admirable within him.

"Thanks."

A smile crossed his face. "No problem." I started towards the door again, this time being careful not to trip, only to be stopped by the charmander. He reached forward and gently yanked on my tail. It was an odd feeling; I really wasn't used to even having one, let alone having it pulled. I glanced back at him, his bright blue eyes looking back at me.

"Mind if I tag along," he asked.

"No, not at all." He made his way and we made our way, side by side, out of the room. We started walking down the hall, the metal floor echoing slightly beneath our bare feet. We walked in silence, the only sound being that of our footsteps, and of his tail swishing gently through the air; the flame on it flickered brightly, like that of a person with a passion, and despite the fact that the lights were on, you could still see it leaving a faint glimmer on the walls.

It was only after several minutes that he asked me that question. "What did you mean, by 'it's just an illusion'? Why couldn't it be real." He glanced at me and I averted my eyes from his.

"It...it was nothing..." I couldn't tell him, at least not yet. It would be too awkward to explain. I knew he might grow suspicious, but if I told him, he'd probably think I was crazy. What else could he think if I turned to face him and said 'Hey, I used to be a human, but then I fell off the front of a ship and woke up on a beach, covered in bruises, and now I'm a pokemon. Strange story, huh?' I knew I wanted to get home, and I knew I wanted to be human again, but how the hell was I supposed to go about asking for help? I shook my head, trying to get my doubts out of my mind. "I'm sorry, give me time to figure it out for myself. I'll explain it later."

He looked at me for a moment, his mouth slightly open, before nodding. "I understand." He stretched out a hand. "My name's Pent." I gave him a questioning look. Pent? "It's the name that John gave me. He's raised me since I hatched out of my egg." I nodded. It made sense that a trainer, or whatever that boy was, might name his pokemon something like that. "What's yours?"

I smiled a little and went to take his hand, only to realize that I couldn't bend my arm. I quickly switched hands. "My name's Jake."

He did the same and shook as he replied. "Good to know."

I nodded. "Same here Pent," I said. Pulling out of our little handshake, I turned to face forward again. We had just about reached the end of the hall, and the door that lay ahead of us was, thankfully, open, even if just by a sliver. At least that meant we didn't have to go back and beg for someone to open the door for us, right? That would have just been humiliating, at least by my standards. I took a few steps forward and reached for the door to push it open when I felt Pent place his hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him.

"You ready to see your friend," he asked.

I let out a small sigh and nodded. "I'm sure Pent. I can stand, and I can walk, so I think I'm good." He recoiled just the tiniest bit, enough for me to wonder if I had been a little too harsh. Either way, there wasn't any way I could appoligize without the situation getting overly awkward. I reached forward and pushed open the door, quickly recoiling from the pain. Note to self: try not to use my right arm. I took a step or two into the room, wondering if both of them had taken it as _well_ as I had.

"Kate, Evan?" I heard my voice echo around the room. "Hello?"


End file.
